The Latino Student Alliance’s annual Latinopalooza will be held at 8 p.m. Saturday in Lamberton Hall. Admission is free, and all are welcome to attend.

Latinopalooza will be the final event of Lehigh’s celebration of National Hispanic Heritage Month. It will feature 10 performances including stepping, strolling, dancing, saluting and singing. Among the groups who will be featured are LU’s Finest Step Team and Lambda Theta Alpha, Lehigh’s Latina sorority.

“All of the Latino Student Alliance members hope that Latinopalooza is able to show a little bit more of the many aspects of the Hispanic and Latino culture,” said Emma Galarza, ‘15, LSA’s Global Union Representative. “We want people to learn about and experience our music, our dancing, and our way of celebrating who we are.”

Though the Latin culture will be the focus of Latinopalooza, many other cultures will also be represented at the event. LSA hopes to celebrate each one of them.

“We want this event to show more about our culture, but at the same time, we want to help bring all cultures together,” Galarza said.

Over the past month, LSA has held events such as a soccer tournament, salsa dancing lessons and a Latin Leaders recognition program. The organization has also hosted guest speakers, such as Karen Hoyos, whose lecture in September focused on the importance of embracing personal heritage and culture. Throughout all of its events, LSA has aimed to make everyone feel invited to learning more about Latin culture and traditions.

“I think that this year’s Hispanic and Latino Heritage Month was very successful at Lehigh,” said Galarza. “We have been able to bring together a lot of students, alumni and staff to create cultural connections that are critical.”

Galarza said that LSA has tried to show a little bit more about Latin culture, what it consists of, and all the talent that is in the Latin community.

“I truly believe that we have achieved our goals this year,” she said.

“I think our cultural celebrations have been received quite well by the student body,” said Benjamin Shepherd, ’15, the LSA secretary.

According to Shepherd, most of the events over the past month have had substantial turnouts, though some others have attracted fewer people.

“But this only encourages us to keep working hard and preparing for next year’s events,” he said.

“All of LSA’s members truly believe in bettering and expanding our events so that our culture can be shared with more people year by year,” Galarza said.

Last fall, Latinopalooza generated so much interest on campus that people packed into the back of Lamberton Hall to see the festivities. Tiara Jones, ’13, hopes that an equal or even greater level of enthusiasm will come to fruition this semester.

“It is so awesome to see so much interest because it is spreading cultural awareness all across the campus,” said Jones, who will be performing at Latinopalooza as part of LU’s Finest Step Team. “That is something that needs to be abundant at Lehigh.”

“I hope that this year's show is just as good, if not better, than last year's,” she said. “I cannot wait to see all of the performances that are lined up. There is always a large variety of talent shown, and I look forward to it each year.”

This year, most of the performances have never been seen before and should therefore provide new and fresh entertainment for the audience.

“Active and entertaining events like this one allow people to become aware of different styles and cultures in an exciting, high-energy way,” Jones said.

The level of enthusiasm about the Latin culture has heavily increased on campus in the past few years, according to LSA. Just a few years ago, there was not even one Latino organization at Lehigh. Events like Latinopalooza only enhance the fact that times are changing and Lehigh’s campus is growing more diverse.

“It’s so important for all cultures to be recognized on campus and expressed as an integral part of Lehigh’s student body,” Shepherd said.

“Cultural events like Latinopalooza are so important because it is good to educate the community on cultures outside of their own specific culture,” Jones said. “This will allow people to grow in ways they may not realize they need to do so.”